NEW YORK--Sunday is usually known as a day of rest, especially for college athletics. Still, last Sunday the Harvard wrestling team found itself hard at work in New York City opening a new season.

Led by first place finishes of co-captain Ed Mosley in the 174-lb weight class and junior Matt Picarsic in 133-lb class, the team battled its way to third place overall in the Ivy Classic, hosted by Columbia. This was an auspicious beginning to a year filled with promise.

"This is the strongest we've started" Harvard Coach Jay Weiss said. "We weren't focused on winning as much as on doing the correct things in the matches. I asked them to do specific things and they did."

The Crimson finished with 121 points behind Penn and Cornell who garnered 141 and 131.5 points respectively. Such a finish was especially impressive as it included eleven top-six finishes and was done despite the absence of co-captain and All-American Joey Killar and junior NCAA qualifier Brad Soltis both ranked No. 1 in the EIWA for their respective weight classes.

"The team looked really good," senior Kevin Kurtz said. "We have high hopes for the season."

After taking a leave of absence last year, Mosley has already sparked the team in his first match back. Proving why he is ranked No. 1 in the EIWA, Mosley simply dismantled the competition. He cruised to the finals with a pair of victories over Brown wrestlers John Williams , 17-2, and Nick Almeida, 8-4. Mosley then won the championship with a 9-1 major decision over Joe Tucceri of Cornell.

"Nobody was even close to scoring on him" Weiss said. "He was very dominate and just kept making adjustments."

Picarsic, ranked third in the EIWA, also had an outstanding day that ended with a commanding 18-10 major decision win over rival Livio DiRubbo from Brown, ranked second in the EIWA.